Delay and Disruption

Delays to work on site may be split into two types: delay to
progress and delay to completion.Delay
to progress may not cause delay to completion.Much dispute over liabilities for delayed completion involves assessing
whether delays to progress were critical to completion.

Building projects which have fixed completion dates usually
contain provisions to extend the construction period where delay to completion
has been caused by an event for which the employer is to blame.Equally they may provide for the payment of
damages by the builder to the employer where the builder is to blame for the
delay.Certain events which are outside
the control of both employer and builder may also be grounds for extending the
contract period.

A non-critical delay to progress may be disruptive and, to
prevent a delay to progress becoming a delay to completion, the sequencing and
methodology of the work may have to be adapted.This may increase construction costs.A contractor’s entitlement to an extension of time may be conditional upon
its using its best endeavours to prevent delay to completion. If the employer is to blame for the delay to
progress, the contractor may reasonably expect to be compensated for the additional
costs arising from it.

Delay to progress may therefore provide grounds for the
contractor’s claiming compensation whether or not completion is delayed.Delay to progress does not usually provide
grounds for the employer’s claiming compensation. Delayed completion may entitle the employer
to compensation where and to the extent it suffers loss as a result of late
completion.Often the anticipated loss
from late completion is assessed at the outset and entered into the building
contract in the form of liquidated and ascertained damages.Absent such pre-assessment the compensation
due may be the sum total of the employer’s actual losses due to the late
completion, subject to the applicable laws of contract.

All of the above holds true where time is not of the essence.Where time is truly of the essence, late
completion would be a fundamental breach of contract.In such circumstances, extending the contract
period, permitting the work to be finished late and adjusting the sums paid to
compensate the aggrieved party would not be an appropriate remedy.